January 2021 – The Nook

“In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are.”

Welcome back adventurers! I hope you’ve had a good week and a great 2021 so far. I have just finished quarantining because my family member tested positive for COVID-19, so this year is already fabulous. Today’s book was a good quarantine companion, though, so it wasn’t so bad.

Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale tells the story of 2 sisters, Vianne and Isabelle, as they navigate life in France before, during, and after World War II, each dealing with their circumstances in their own way.

I have to admit that this book was quite a slow start for me. I didn’t want it to be because a friend of mine recommended it and I didn’t want to tell her that I didn’t like it, but I just didn’t connect with it right away. I am not sure if the language felt too flowery or if it was the pacing, but I just couldn’t get hooked in.

But I have a rule for myself when it comes to any type of art that I take in. For each type, I ask myself to stay open and absorb a certain amount of the work without truly connecting to it before I decide that it’s not for me. With a book, I try to give it at least 1/3 of its pages before I call it quits. In a way, I feel like a work of art is a life in its own right, and just like with a new friend you need time to get acquainted.

I am very glad I followed my rule with this book. It was well worth it. This story that I initially felt distant from soon became a story that I could not put down, even when my body was begging for sleep. I will warn you that this tale is not for the faint of heart, especially the second half, when our characters are deep in the midst of the war. But if you can handle the dire circumstances and if you are patient, you will be rewarded with a story so rich you can’t help but be changed.

The Nightingale shows us the day-to-day life of citizens in German-occupied France in stark, excruciating detail. We see them suffering through rationing, the destruction of home and personal property, harsh winters, constant surveillance, and the looming threat of abuse or loss, all the while trying to protect themselves and the ones they love. Hannah brings to life the fear, desperation, and hopelessness of these characters and you cannot help but feel it. There is a heartbreaking beauty in following Vianne and Isabelle as they face impossible choices and grow to understand who they really are. Most importantly, she reveals to us how the extreme pressures of this war affect the relationships of the characters.

Some of the relationships took a while to sell me on. At first I felt some indifference toward the relationship between sisters Vianne and Isabelle, mainly because to me it seemed as though the women felt somewhat indifferent toward each other. Wild child Isabelle has a more rebellious approach to the war while nervous Vianne takes to doing whatever she can not to make waves, and they clash over this. I didn’t feel much for them in the beginning, but as the story went on and more layers of their relationship are revealed, I found myself rooting for their bond to grow. I was captivated, however, by the relationship between the sisters and their cold and distant father, not only in how they related to him, but how that relationship colored all the other relationships in their lives. I didn’t quite enjoy the romance between Isabelle and the young man she meets while fleeing Paris. Maybe it’s because I’m not a teenager anymore like Isabelle or because it takes a lot for me to buy into a romance in any story, but I felt as though she fell in love too fast to be believed.

Have you guys read The Nightingale? If so, what do you think? Did you get hooked in right away or was it slowing going at first? Or did you even like it at all? Let me know in the comments, or hit me up on Twitter or Instagram. I would love to hear from you! See ya next time! – Cozie

Family Friendly Content Considerations:

Recommended for Older Teens and Adults

Violence Associated with War

Sexual Situations

Twitter: @TheNookAndBook

Instagram: @nook.and.book

chat@nookandbook.club

Hi Adventurers!

Today I wanted to talk a little about a subject that is close to my heart: artists and storytelling. Since childhood, I have spent many years studying and practicing to be an actress, singer, and dancer. And for almost as many years, I have heard people saying that these types of careers, along with a host of other artistic aspirations, are not really worth pursuing. They say that art is mostly entertainment, most people can’t make much money this way, and you may not be as talented as you think you are. Everyone has heard this, and every artist has tried to explain why they are needed. So I’ve decided to throw my hat and the ring and try myself. I won’t explain every reason; that post would never end. But I will try to explain one.

Storytelling accounts for most of the communicating that any of us will ever do in life. It’s part of who we are, and we cannot function without it.

When you meet up with a friend for coffee, one of the first things you will probably do is tell them a story. “Girl, the drive over was crazy. The guy in front of me must have been drunk because he stopped so suddenly…” And you will probably receive a story from them. In fact if you think about it, you’ll notice that most of your time spent with family and friends (or coworkers, or your doctor, etc.) is taken up by sharing and receiving stories. I recently had a phone call with a friend that generally went like this:

-Greetings

-My story of what happened that morning

-Her story of what happened that morning

-Her questioning why I was upset

-My story of what happened at work

-My asking about her holidays

-Her story of how her family was ill over the holidays

-You get the idea

You probably haven’t gone a day without sharing a story with someone, whether it’s chatting about a hot date you had the night before, complaining to your boss about your coworker, or sharing a glimpse of your childhood with your child. It’s human nature.

So, okay. We know that story is part of everyday life and we participate in it all the time. Why does that mean that we need professional storytellers? If we do it without even thinking about it then we don’t need any help. Well, let’s look at another aspect of life that is just as natural and commonplace – eating. Everyone eats all day long, every day. We all know how to do it after a certain age, and we don’t need any help.

But as of 2020, 42.4% of America (where I live) is obese, and we’re not the only country with this kind of problem. Many adults don’t know how much to eat, how often, what to eat, where to get the best ingredients (or even how to tell if an ingredient is good), and how to put those ingredients together safely and tastily. And even if they know some of these things, they may not know the importance of cultivating family mealtime and traditions. They may lose interest in what they know how to cook because their recipe books are limited. Or they may lack an understanding of healthy digestion. And on and on and on. We know how to eat, but we don’t know, and even what we do know can be improved upon for a better life.

So professionals are vital. Nutritionists teach us a balanced diet and show us how to understand our own dietary needs. Therapists help us clarify our relationship to food and help us learn how to eat for the right reasons. And chefs teach us how to prepare food well and get the most out of every ingredient, as well as exposing us to the wonderful foods from around the world. That’s all on top of giving us that fully nurturing gift of cooking for us themselves.

And it’s the same with story. We know how to tell stories, but we don’t. We witnessed damaging communication from our parents when we were kids. We take to lying or gossiping – two of the worst forms of storytelling there are. We share something with someone or they share with us, but it goes misunderstood. And on and on and on.

We need what artists have spent their lives cultivating – good storytelling skills. Writers teach us how to choose our words carefully, which comes in handy when you need to get your point across without hurting someone or make a big presentation at school. The expose us to other worlds, other times, and other lives, giving us a fuller understanding of our own world. And writers are not the only storytellers who help us. Actors show us that what is really being said behind the words is as important as (if not more important than) the words themselves, so we can see past them in an argument and get to the heart of the matter. They, along with musicians and dancers, teach us to listen fully and respond well, and dancers model for us how story is communicated through our whole body. Honestly, there are so many more ways that artists teach us, but then this post would never end. And of course, they satisfy our hunger for entertainment and experience by treating us to their work.

I cannot believe that I just wrote all that. I absolutely hated writing papers in college and repeatedly said that I would rather stab myself in the eye than write a paper. I guess times change.

So hopefully I’ve convinced you that I had good reason to spend all those years studying. Tell me what you think! Have I over-inflated the importance of artists in the world, or has our society underappreciated them this whole time? Or is it neither? Let me know in the comments below, or if you want, reach out to me here:

Email: chat@nookandbook.com

Twitter: @TheNookAndBook

Instagram: @nook.and.book

Se ya back in the nook! – Cozie

Month: January 2021

In The Nook With… The Nightingale

A Good Meal: Why We Need Storytellers